Day 134: Holkham Hall

In August, Laura, her friend, and I went to Holkham (pronounced Holk-um, not Holk-ham) Hall. It was an interesting house - and an actually family still lives there today. OH...some scenes from the movie The Duchess were also filmed in the estate.

Front of Holkham Hall

Back

A game of Cricket was going on at the time we were there.

Day 119: TV Tax

 

Fact: You must pay a tax to have a television in England. Hey, if the television is in black and white - you get a tax break (well, you won't pay 145 pounds). And for those of you that don't know how to convert pounds into dollars - that gives you a grand total of $224.10. WOWZERS! Oh by the way, I have to pay this every year - but I think the military will pay for one year? We forgot last year so we will definitely be hitting that up. Now...off to watch some expensive tv...oh wait, I only get 10 channels :( If you want British tv, you gots to cough up that CAPTAIN pay. Two more years? but we won't be here... or will we ;)

Creepy crawly

Just in time for Halloween, I bring you a British spider:

I've heard that poisonous spiders do not exist in England...but I'm not sure if that is true. I've done a little research and can't find anything.

Operation Ryan in a Refrigerator

Players: 

Ryan Jenkins - Ben's best friend from HS and college, groomsman in our wedding

Kristen Secrist - can, but hates, keeping secrets

Benjamin Secrist - unsuspecting victim

Background:

Ryan got accepted to graduate school at King's College in London. Benjamin thought, because Ryan told him, that Ryan was attending NC State. Meanwhile, Ryan and I had devised a plan to get him to our house to surprise Ben. 

Operation Ryan in a Refrigerator:

After work on Friday, I met Ryan at the gate, got him a visitors pass and headed to the house. Benjamin had to work late so we had about an hour to devise our plan: Operation Ryan in a Refrigerator.

This video is the sequel to Operation Ben in the Trunk and Pip in a Box.

Pumpkin Time

I love autumn because that means I can go overboard with pumpkins! I love making pumpkin cookies, cakes, bread, cheesecake, pudding, you name it I've probably made it. Benjamin gets pretty excited about all the pumpkin goodies I make. Last year was the first year that I can remember carving pumpkins and I can't wait to do it again this year. Maybe it won't take 2 hours to do! To my delight, I found these lovely bars in the commissary! Thank you Kashi! 

 

I am going to be on the search for some more recipes this year.  Autumn just feels different in England. It actually feels like it is supposed to, not horribly hot like in Texas or North Carolina. It actually feels like a season change oh and by the way, it is starting to get darker over here a lot earlier than we were used to. I got to take down the sheet we had hanging up over the window. We had a sheet up, so the sun wouldn't be so bright in the mornings when the sun would come up at 4 in the morning. I've heard pretty soon that it will be completely dark by 4:00 pm!! I just can't imagine that!!

In other news, we bought Beatles Rockband a few days ago. It's really awesome! I'm learning a lot of songs, that I didn't even know they sang. It has several clips of audio before and after you play a song. Sometimes they talk about cheese and marmite sandwiches, which we all know is a Ploughmans or maybe just Benjamin and I know that, other times it's more serious commentary about the song. It's pretty epic playing the game and knowing that we live in England. I really want to go to Liverpool at some point and I'm sure we will. I want a picture on Abbey Road, even if Benjamin thinks I can't!

We also got our Scotland book from Amazon.co.uk today! We are getting ready for our New Years trip and fell in love with the dk travel books. Thanks mom for getting us hooked, the London book is wonderful and we've used it every time we go.

 

Hampton Court Palace

Benjamin and I went to Hampton Court Palace on Saturday. HCP is owned by Henry the VIII. It is only one of two surviving palaces, out of many, owned by Henry the VIII. It was built for Cardinal Wolsey, a favorite of the king. As Wolsey fell from favor, the palace was given to William III. He wanted to tear the palace down and build it differently. William III did not get very far when the lead architect died. This left the palace with two very distinct contrasting styles, domestic Tutor and Baroque. 

The first thing we did when we got to HCP was get a scone!! Yum! I think we are addicted! I want to find a recipe on how to make scones so I can make them when we go back to the states.

We successfully completed the Hampton Court Maze, planted sometime during the 1690's. The maze covers a third of an acre and contains half a mile of paths. Here we are in the centre of the maze.

We also got to see the Hampton Court kitchen. It was said to have been ready to feed several thousands of people at anytime. The kitchen consisted of several rooms for preparation and cooking food. 

Beautiful, elaborate clock 

Here is Benjamin in front of HCP. It was such a beautiful day in London.

Beautiful gardens we couldn't go in, still got to snap a picture.

Of course we ran into Henry the VIII and Cardinal Wolsey. We just had to get a photo!

Souvenirs

Benjamin and I want to collect "something" while we are traveling and visiting lots of interesting places. We thought about magnets but realized that could get a little out of control. We wanted something we could display but also something rather small and inexpensive. Benjamin decided on lapel pins or pin badges, as they're sometimes called, which can be found everywhere here! Here is a picture of our collection so far. 

Top to bottom: RAF Mildenhall, RAF Lakenheath, Cambridge, Stiges (Spain), Ely, London, Parliament, Royal Shakespeare Company, Nortre Dame, Duxford, Hever Castle, Chartwell House, Canterbury

Top to bottom, left to right: Royal Shakespeare Company (better view), Roman Baths, Stonehenge, St. Paul's Cathedral, France, Eiffel Tower, Canterbury Cathedral, Wicked, Changing Guard, Buckingham Palace

We've been to some smaller places were these pins just didn't exist. I also need to order a Les Mis pin because we forgot to pick up one, after seeing the show. We have a pretty good collection, even though we've only been in Europe for a few months...5 months and 1 day to be exact.

Check location

Last weekend, I purchased tickets to go to Hampton Court Palace in London. We didn't really look at where HCP was until we got to London last weekend. Turns out, it is nowhere near any of the Underground stops. We decided not to go and luckily the tickets are good for one week of the purchase date. We are going to go tomorrow and just drive there. In our London book, this is one of the top ten things to do in London. Other than that, no big plans for this weekend.

Canterbury

The next stop on our weekend getaway was Canterbury. 

The first thing we did was go to a Canterbury Tales exhibit. It was interesting and we got to hear a few tales. The exhibit took you back to 14th century Canterbury and introduced you to "characters" from Canterbury Tales. The characters were animatronic figures and you listened to an audio guide that led you through the tales.

Inside the exhibit:

We also visited a book store and Benjamin bought a WWII British pamphlet on updated air war against Germany published in 1942.  He was very happy about this.

The next stop was a river tour of Canterbury on the River Stour. 

We passed under the 12th century Eastbridge Hospital and King's Bridge (1134) and saw some industrial buildings from the medieval period. We also saw the Dominican priories which were built by the Blackfrairs in the 14th century these led into a peaceful garden area. 

The last thing we saw was the infamous ducking stool. They used these as ways to punish wicked wives or to determine if you were a witch. You know the story, if you survive the torture...you are a witch and they burn you. If you don't survive...you were not a witch but you died anyway. There families were given a guaranteed by the church that their loved one was certainly in heaven and they apologized for essential messing up and killing an innocent person. 

Another view of the historic river tour:

We also visit the Canterbury Cathedral. The Cathedral's history dates back to 597 AD. In 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in the Cathedral. Ever since, the Cathedral has attracted thousands of pilgrims, as told famously in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

Inside the cathedral:

Next Stop: 

Back to London! 4-6 Sept

Kent

The first stop on our trip was Outback Steakhouse! I was thrilled when I found out this restaurant existed in the UK! Same menu, same decor...it was awesome. This seems petty but in the grand scheme of things, we're going to be three years here and it's nice to know this is available. It took a while to get here but only because we did not have a GPS. Apparently we had been going the wrong way and it took 20 minutes of driving in the wrong direction before we could find a place to turn around. The UK highway system is very different than the US system. There aren't really any overpasses here. In the states you could just get off at the next exit, zip across and start heading in the right direction. Not here!

What you are about to see is NOT Outback food. This is what a traditional British breakfast looks like:

Eggs, hash browns, bacon (it looks like ham), sausage (their sausage is amazing! It's very creamy and just melts in your mouth), and baked beans...yuck! At least there aren't any mushy peas on the plate. We ate this on Saturday morning before heading out to Hever Castle and the Chartwell House.

This first stop of the day was Hever Castle. This is the birthplace and home of Anne Boleyn. It is definitely my favorite castle so far. The gardens were breathtaking!

Stairs leading up to the gardens

A mini waterfall!

Hever Castle:

Unfortunately, no photography was allowed inside Hever Castle.

No castle visit would be complete with a jousting tournament 

The second stop for the day was Chartwell House. Again, no photography allowed inside.

(If you can't read the sign)

Chartwell - home of Sir Winston Churchill was bought and presented to the nation in 1947 by a group of his friends and admirers who names are recorded here in gratitude by the National Trust.

Back of the house, much prettier view than the front:

Here is Benjamin overlooking the grounds of Winston Churchill's home:

Benjamin standing in the same spot as Winston:

 

Check back later for pictures of Canterbury! My internet is being foolish!

Weekend Getaway

Benjamin and I are going to Kent and Canterbury this weekend. On the way, we are stopping and eating at Outback! Yes, to our surprise there are three Outback's jolly ole England! I'm so excited!! Well the bad news is, something is wrong with Ben's car (he's thinking it just a spark plug) so we had to get a rental car for the weekend. There is a car care center on RAF Mildenhall and they told Ben it would take up to 10 days to get a spark plug ordered! That is crazy...and of course British spark plugs aren't like American ones. There is no Advanced Auto Parts here. We are definitely going to be looking for a car very very soon!

I'll update more when we return for this mini holiday! 

Benson died

Mushy peas

Okay, let's talk about mushy peas. British people love them and they come usually as a side with fish 'n chips. Well here's how you make them ...first you take some peas and you mash 'em, mash 'em (It's a song...oh nevermind!). Here's the result:

If that's not bad enough, look what I found in the grocery store:

Now they make mushy peas in a can...YUCK!! I can say this because I've tried them...TWICE! I've never really been a fan of peas but I am a fan of this comic I found. 

New Furniture

Here is our new furniture set for the living room. We got it yesterday!

Now time to start decorating!! I want the living room colors to be chocolate (like the couches) blues and greens. Here are some pillows I just ordered:

I also just ordered these curtains. I got the blue and chocolate ones, they are called french blue:

Got the new license plate! Now we won't get funny looks anymore from the locals. In Texas, you did not have to have a license plate in the front but in the UK everyone has two license plates, one in the front and one in the back. Since we only had the one in the back, we got a lot of double takes.

BT sucks!

Spain trip is in 5 days! We can't wait!

Daylight hours here are just weird! For example, the sun rose at 6:10 am and set at 8:15 pm in Fayetteville, NC. Here, the sun rose at 4:30 and set at 9:00.We have around 17 hours of sunlight during the summer. Yesterday we went the movies on base and the movie ended at 8:30. We went outside and it was still light out. It was very strange and satisfying at the same time.

Before we moved in our new house, we had an inspection done and had a walk through with a housing rep. She went over an hours worth of information. One of the things she told us was that we already had a BT (or British Telecom) hub in our house. We were not to let BT charge us a fee because the line was already there. BT is the company we are using for tv, internet and phone. I absolutely hate when I have to talk to these people (I'm saying these people...and I don't care) because they sound like they are Indian Scottish people. Take a second and try to imagine what that sounds like. I wish I could record them talking and put it on here because it's the funniest thing! Well, BT is trying to charge us 122 pounds (around 180 dollars) because we needed a electrician to come out to the house to set up the BT hub (the very same BT hub the rep told us NOT to pay for because it was already install). Well, in all reality I called and cancelled that appointment because it was extremely easy to set up the phone and internet and I remembered what the rep said. The company sends you the equipment in the mail. When I called them to ask why I had been charged an astronomical amount of money they said it was because the electrician (that never came because I cancelled the appointment) came out. Okay, I explained the situation to them and then I was put on hold. The man comes back to say that I have to pay that fee because I'm a new customer. Hmm...since when do you pay to be someones customer. I could not talk to that man any longer. Soooo....I'm going to call the housing office and get them to put this in writing, that I don't have to pay for this "installation fee".

The house!

Enjoy the tour!

Sat 25 April

We went to Cambridge today which is about 25 miles away from where we live. It was a great day to be outside! The weather has been great since we have been here. We went to Kings College in Cambridge and got to go inside the chapel. It was very pretty with lots of stained glass windows. We also did a little shopping. Some of the stores were extremely expensive! I’m talking like 300 dollars for a shirt. I don’t think so. Luckily, we did find some stores that were more like US prices. We ate at a great pub called The Eagle Pub. We both ordered the bangers and mash. For you Americans, that’s sausage and mashed potatoes. It’s amazingly good!

Fri 24 April

We went to Newmarket today, which is known for it’s horse racing. We ate some famous fish and chips and it was delicious. There is also something here called mushy peas. These are basically mashed up peas. They look like green mashed potatoes. Ben and I don’t like them but they aren’t horrible. We did some walking around and that was about it. Newmarket is about 10 miles away from where we live.

Thurs 23 April

Our household goods arrived today! We’ve never lived on base and we forgot that we had to let the movers onto base. We kept waiting and waiting and they finally showed up. They had to call someone Ben worked with to get them onto the base. It really sucks not having a phone number. We are working on that though.

Wed 22 April

Today we had our house inspection. It was pretty funny because the lady giving us the “tour” said that since we had not been in town for very long it was going to take longer because she would have to explain some of her term for things. She called the trash can on wheels, wheelie bins. She also said the word ain’t, which I thought was pretty funny. We also have towel dryers in our bathrooms. These are series of stainless steal tubes that are linked together like a ladder. Steam is piped through them to heat and dry the towels. We told the lady that we had never seen anything like that in the states. She couldn’t believe that!

Tues 21 April

We attended an all day Newcomers briefing. The commander of the base really stressed that we take the opportunity to travel as much as possible. We are hoping that we will get to take that advice! There are a lot of British people that work on the bases. Ben and I were very confused about this but it was explained at the briefing session. In the states we have people that work on bases that are DoD employees. Here the UK has MoD (Ministry of Defense) employees that can work on the base. Makes sense considering this is their base.

You need your brolly! That’s an umbrella.

Got the car today and Ben got to drive on the left. See video.

A windshield is now a wind screen

Yesterday, we picked up the car from the Vehicle Processing Center. It was so great to see the car and know that we don’t need to worry about finding rides and whatnot. However, there was of course one small problem! The passenger ride mirror was broken! Somehow, the shell of the mirror was completely gone. The mirror was being held on by two zip ties. Wonderful! Pictures to come soon. The car is in the shop getting an MoT (which is equivalent to get inspected in the states). It also has to have work done on the headlights and needs a rear fog light. We can’t wait to have the car back.

We went to Cambridge this past weekend for sushi with some friends. It was not as good as the place we always went with Brusle in Texas. That was some good sushi (although the dish I always got was not technically “sushi”). We are told that Cambridge is the place for shopping. It was a very beautiful place! We can’t wait to go back and probably will this weekend.

We move into our HOUSE on Wednesday but our things will not be there until Thursday. We are thinking about staying in the hotel for one more night on Wednesday because if not we won’t have ANYTHING! No blankets, television, dishes, towels, etc. I also want to stay in the hotel because I want to watch American Idol with comes on AFN. But also because we won’t have any of our stuff :)

AFN is the Armed Forces Network which is like having very, very basic cable. I believe we get nine channels. Two are sports, two are slide show presentations for the two bases, and the rest are a varied arrangement of lots of different shows. For example, we took a nap yesterday and woke up at 4:00 pm to David Letterman. Went we got back from dinner at 8:00pm we walked in to Oprah. Starting at 9:00pm it’s Jay Leno, then David Letterman, then Craig Fergueson. It’s a pretty crazy schedule over here. American Idol does come on Wednesday at 6:00 and results show the next day at the same time. Whew...that goodness because they don’t play AI on hulu yet.